PARIS, OTHER CITIES DESERTED

Recently teeming with life despite the coronavirus pandemic, the centre of Paris and several other large French cities were deserted.

Euronews reported that It comes after the government enforced a 6 am-9 pm curfew to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in and around the capital and in eight metropolitan areas, including Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Montpellier, Rouen, St Etienne and Toulouse.

Waiters packed up the tables and chairs of Paris' famous bistros and the Champs-Elysees avenue lay almost empty as the clock struck nine.

The controversial measure was put in place by the government to suppress France's soaring COVID-19 infection rate, which is one of the worst in Europe.

France's reimposition of a state of health emergency and the introduction of curfews are the consequence of a "sudden and spectacular acceleration" in the spread of the coronavirus, the country's prime minister said on Thursday.

Jean Castex told reporters that the national COVID-19 incidence rate over the past ten days had jumped from 107 to 190 cases per 100,000 population with "particularly alarming levels" in some large cities.